Guru
Nanak Dev University was established in 1969 for imparting education and
promoting research in humanities, learned professions, sciences, especially
of applied nature and technology. Within the first few years of its creation,
the university started the departments of Basic Sciences. Chemistry, Mathematics,
Biology and Physics. At present, the university has 34 departments, apart
from Regional Campuses at Jalandhar and Gurdaspur. The total strength of
graduate and post-graduate students at the University Campus alone is more
than 7000.

The
UGC has recognised the School of Life Sciences for SAP, COSSIST and DRS
programmes. In 1990, the school of life sciences was reorganised into five
full-fledged departments, viz., the department of Molecular Biology and
Biochemistry, the department of Botanical Sciences, the department of Zoology,
the department of Human Genetics and the department of Microbiology. A
new department of Biotechnology was started in 1991. To cater to scientific
information needs of the scientists and research fellows working in the
University and other institutes of this region, a Bioinformatics Centre
has been established by the DBT under its BTISnet programme.

The
centre has been equipped with sophisticated computer and communication
systems and is networked with the BTIS backbone through a VSAT. The centre
is rendering informatics services on literature survey relating to various
bibliographic databases such as Biotechnology Abstracts, Agricola, Agris,
Medicine, etc. The centre also offers two courses, viz. (i) Computer Application
in Bioinformatics; and (ii) Fortran Programming and Biostatistics to M.Sc.
Biotechnology students.